Humanitarian OSM Team/Board Elections 2021

Humanitarian OSM Team Board elections 2021

Current Board of Directors

The current HOT Board of Directors are: Miriam Gonzalez (President), Felix Delattre (Vice President), Ben Abelshausen (Secretary), Rob Baker (Treasurer), Gertrude (Trudy Hope) Namitala (Member-at-Large), Maning Sambale (Member-at-Large), and Kate Chapman (Member-at-Large). See 'Board' page on the HOT site for descriptions. Board Meeting Minutes can be reviewed here

Timeline

Step	Dates
Nominations	1st September 2021 at 00:00 UTC - 12th September 2021 at 23:59UTC
Question Submission	1st September 2021 at 00:00 UTC - 12th September 2021 at 23:59UTC
Bylaw proposals with "second"/Ballot Initiatives deadline	12th September 2021 at 23:59 UTC
Final Questions Shared with Nominees	No later than 14th September 2021 at 23:59 UTC
Candidate Answers to questions Due to Election Commitee	No later than 21st September 2021 at 23:59 UTC
Discussion Period	22nd September 2021 at 00:00 UTC - 28th September 2021 at 23:59 UTC
Ballots distributed and voting period begins	29 September 2021
Voting period ends	5th October 2021 at 23:59UTC
Annual General Meeting (AGM)	7th October 2021 at 13:00UTC
Announcement of results	Within 24 hours of AGM

Full Election Procedures

Board Election Results

Candidate	Votes	Percentage of Vote
Kate Chapman	88	77.9%
Shoaib Burq	65	57.5%
Courtney Clark	86	76.1%
Kuo-Yu slayer Chuang	74	65.5%
Nate Smith	59	52.2%
Joshua S Campbell	51	45.1%
Nicolas Chavent	39	34.5%
Abstain	7

Bold indicates newly elected board members

Kate Chapman, Shoaib Burq, Courtney Clark, Kuo-Yu Slayer Chuang, and Nate Smith are elected.

Nominations for Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team Board of Directors

NOMINATIONS ARE NOW CLOSED

This election, five seats are up for election. These seats are occupied by Board members whose current terms are ending: Miriam Gonzalez, Ben Abelshausen, Rob Baker, Maning Sambale, and Kate Chapman.

The nomination period for the Board of Directors will close at 23:59 on 12th September 2021

Thinking of nominating someone (or yourself) for a Board position? Read the HOT Board Primer first, and add your nominees below.

The nomination period opens at 00:01 UTC 1st September 2021 and will close at 23:59 UTC 12th September 2021.

Candidate Name	Nominator / Supporter(s)	Candidate Nationality/Residence	Why are they an excellent choice?	Candidate statement
Kate Chapman	Matt Gibb /Heather Leson / Yantisa Akhadi / Jess Beutler	USA/USA	I have spent the past 6 months on the HOT board, I feel like I'm just getting my feet under me. I would be honored to continue to support the HOT mission. My experience I've gained in non-profits since my time as Executive Director I think makes me a helpful addition to the HOT board.	HOT began on a path of transition with the award of the Audacious Grant. The difference in the organization since I was a staff member has been amazing. With HOT’s current growth trajectory the board should continue to move from an operational board to a strategic board (much as already been done in this area, but there is still more to do). In my role if elected I would provide the governance and oversight required of the position and support the HOT community in development of the next three year strategy. Currently I work for the Wikimedia Foundation where I have had the opportunity to better understand how other aspects of the free knowledge movement operate and can be supported by organizational structures. My role is as Director of Architecture and I view architecture as turning strategy to technology. I hope to use this experience to support the tech team in this work at HOT. Prior to my team at Wikimedia I spent 15 years working in the geospatial industry in a variety of positions at start-ups, large corporations and NGOs. I also am a board member of two other non-profits currently Software Freedom Conservancy and Nature Nurture Farmacy (a local community based health organization). I have previously been on a few other NGO boards and I think my varied board experience is an asset to HOT. I elected would be honored to continue to serve HOT and the OpenStreetMap movement.
Shoaib Burq	self / Jorieke Vyncke /Heather Leson	Australia/Germany		I currently serve on the HOT Risk Committee. This has given me some insight into the challenges HOT expects to tackle in the coming years. The goal of empowering communities across the planet to map their surroundings inspires me today just as it did 12 years ago when I ran the first mapping party in Canberra. From that day on I have continued to participate in OSM and HOT, both as a mapper but also as an advocate. I helped spread the word about OSM in the Australian Government when I worked as a public servant at Geoscience Australia. That advocacy work led to some of the early examples of public sector partnering with the OSM community to collect data. E.g. AIFDR's mapping of Indonesia. I continued this work upon moving to Berlin, e.g. when presenting at MSF's Humanitarian Congress. I am also passionate about the power of maps in helping save lives. In 2009 after the worst recorded bushfires in Australia I worked in a team of mapping volunteers to assist search and rescue efforts on the ground. By profession I'm a geospatial software developer and entrepreneur and also contribute to open source projects such as PostGIS. Though, I am pretty sure there are many others who are better suited to be on the board, if elected, I would enthusiastically work with the board in helping HOT achieve the ambitious goals it has set for itself. If you have any questions for me please do reach out to me at shoaib.burq@gmail.com
Courtney Clark	self / Jorieke Vyncke/ Heather Leson / Rory Nealon/ Chad Blevins / Jess Beutler	USA/USA	HOT has grown and changed in so many positive ways since I first met the organization in 2014. I have spoken with many current and former board members, HOT staff, and community members, and I have a strong understanding of HOT’s current opportunities and challenges. I care deeply about this organization and believe wholeheartedly in its mission and impact, and I would serve as a dedicated and enthusiastic board member who also represents the interests of the voting membership.	I have been involved with HOT since 2014, when I mobilized many of my fellow Peace Corps Volunteers, who had recently been evacuated from living in West Africa due to the Ebola epidemic, to add their knowledge of their host countries to OpenStreetMap. Across 2015 and 2016, I founded and led an open mapping initiative for international development projects within the U.S. Peace Corps, leading to hundreds of thousands of edits to OSM and the launch of over 120 community development projects incorporating OSM data. I also helped lead the OSM Institutions Working Group, through which I assisted in bringing together geographers and others from the US government and multilateral institutions to advocate for increased use of OSM and additional collaboration among our organizations. During this time, I also became a voting member of HOT. I currently serve as Program Director for the Everywhere She Maps program of YouthMappers, where I collaborate with our youth network to launch initiatives aimed at increasing women’s participation in OSM, YouthMappers chapters, and the geography and tech industries. In addition, I am a Manager of Sponsored Projects for the American Geographical Society, where I lead our efforts to strengthen and expand geography education across the US, particularly at the secondary level. I’m a highly active member of the HOT Community Working Group, and in the past year I have taken the lead for the group on planning two webinars related to sexism in the OSM ecosystem and ethical considerations related to projects using OSM and other open mapping tools among vulnerable and marginalized peoples. I have supported many other efforts within the group, including a rewrite of the Terms of Reference, additional community webinars, and recruitment of new members. My previous experience serving as a nonprofit board member for Kaleidoscope Youth Center in Ohio, grant-writing skills, knack for developing and growing partnerships, willingness to hold HOT accountable, and caring, open communication style would serve me well as a productive member of this board.
Kuo-Yu slayer Chuang	Eugene Alvin Villar / Taichi Furuhashi / Yantisa Akhadi / Heather Leson	Taiwan	I was the board member of HOT back in 2017 and it's my pleasure to participate the strategic planning of HOT at that time. I'm running a social enterprise as CEO these years, also constantly participating UN-GGIM (Disaster WG) and UN Open GIS. I do hope my experience can still contribute to the board this time!	With the passion to community and my working experience together with various humanitarian organizations, I helped to organize State of Map Taiwan in 2017, promote HOT in MSF event in Taiwan at 2018, and actively promote/use OSM data in disaster response sector for the recent years. I believe that mapping can be helpful to the preparedness & in-time response against disaster, that's why I took participation to the community. To algin with the audacious goals, my connections to those stakeholders including responders, government agencies, and regional development organizations, could be a good plus to make our mapping results smoothly delivered and well leveraged, so we can validate the outcomes from end-user's perspective. My interests to ICT development and data ontology could again align to HOT's audacious goals on software tools and data quality. The experience as standard working group chair & editor in international standardization organization such as OGC (Open GeoSMS SWG) and ITU (Q.3615), could bring our mapping results to the next level validation (with the profiles that are designed for different application scenarios) and better data quality. Here's my response to the questions in this wiki page, and perhaps you will know more about me from these Q&A. Please feel free to comment or mail me. https://www.openstreetmap.org/user/slayer@GeoThings/diary/397684
Nate Smith	self / Can Ünen / Heather Leson	USA / Indonesia	For the last 10 years with HOT I have been leading mapping projects or developing new technology partnerships to strengthen the development of our tools. As I have transitioned from being a HOT staff to working in the private sector in the past two years, I am looking to bring a new perspective back to the HOT board. I will bring a unique perspective to the board as I currently work in Asia for one of the biggest technology companies in the region and will look to help broaden how HOT can continue to grow and have an impact.	This is an important year for HOT. The Audacious Project has set the organization on a high growth trajectory. The current trajectory HOT is on is targeting significant impact to the communities we operate in and will strengthen the humanitarian OSM community for years to come. While HOT is in the initial years of the grant, there is a need to continue that trajectory through forward-looking planning and strategic thinking. As a board candidate and someone who has constantly worked to develop the right solutions to meet user needs, I believe I can bring a forward-thinking mindset to help continue the current growth trajectory. For the past 10 years, I have worked on building mapping projects to ensure user needs are met and the right solutions are built. As previous Director of Technology for HOT, I worked to help develop the next phase of technology development with significant investments in the Tasking Manager, MapCampaigner, and OpenAerialMap. Currently, I serve as Head of Product for maps at Gojek, a large on-demand platform providing ride-hailing, food, and package delivery across Southeast Asia. As our team has worked with a wide variety of mapping technologies, I have firsthand experience in how technology companies develop and execute a mapping product strategy. As a board member, I can bring the experience of working with other product teams to develop the right solutions that meet user needs by listening, understanding pain points, and experimenting with new ideas. This experience will help contribute creative and innovative thinking towards a longer-term strategic plan. There are three key ways I would operate as a board member to help support the growth trajectory of HOT. First, I would contribute an innovative outside perspective to discussions on strategy and governance by bringing my experience working the last two years in the private sector leveraging developing mapping strategies. I will do this through the active contribution of ideas and draw on my experience. Secondly, I would connect and network with like-minded organizations to support HOT to be a forward-thinking organization around technology and impact within humanitarian OSM. I will work to be a connection point for fundraising and strategic growth opportunities. Lastly, I would operate with inclusivity and good communication to ensure all strategy, governance, and fundraising discussions with the board support meeting the growth trajectory of HOT.
Mohamet Lamine Ndiaye	self / Mats'eliso Thobei (tshedy) / Jorieke Vyncke / Willy Franck SOB / Faneva Andriamiadantsoa/ Nathalie SIDIBE	Senegal	have been a voting member of the Humanitarian Openstreetmap Team for several years and I work with members of the Openstreetmap Senegal community to represent them at local meetings but also on mapping projects in West Africa And being part of the board is an opportunity for me to learn and contribute more about the HOT community	I became a an active contributor of the OpenStreetMap community thanks to a mission of the Humaritarian Openstreetmap team in 2013. With the help of volunteer cartographers, we were able to set up the Openstreetmap Senegal community, then the Openstreetmap Senegal association - where I served as the General Secretary since 2018. Since 2015, with the support of the French association Projet Espace OSM Francophone (ProjetEOF) and Les Libres Géographes (LLG), I have been able to participate in several capacity building missions in Francophone Africa. I have developed a set of skills and experiences that can be used on the board of HOT US Inc. In order to make HOT more inclusive and diverse, the participation of members of the African and Francophone community at the executive level is important. This will allow for the unique and specific aspects of the realities within these communities to be taken into account. In addition, there is still much to be done in terms of mapping actions as many spaces are currently missing on the map in these territories, hence the presence of people who can help understand the issues and particularity of these communities within HOT's board of directors makes sense. With HOT's desire to make the organization more inclusive and community-centric, I am sure that the human, technical and organizational knowledge that I have acquired over the years in the French-speaking community in Africa will be a valuable contribution to help the organization meet this challenge.
Joshua S Campbell	self / John Crowley / Matt Gibb / Shadrock Roberts	USA / USA	My experience with HOT goes back to its founding days, and I’ve been involved with many of the policies, technologies, and organizations that have contributed to its growth and success.  This background with HOT combined with the development of MapGive, my fiduciary and governance experience with other non-profits, network in the broader humanitarian community, and working history and academic training in open source technology and geographic information science, make me well positioned to support HOT as a Board Member during this critical period of its growth.	I have been involved with HOT since its inception after the 2010 Haiti Earthquake.  Much of my engagement has been working alongside HOT, having supported the early development and evolution of the Tasking Manager, feature development for the Export Tool, and most importantly on the development of imagery sharing processes related to the Imagery to the Crowd and MapGive projects that I developed while at the Humanitarian Information Unit at the U.S. State Department. Working in conjunction with HOT, MapGive has provisioned over 200 individual imagery web services in support of humanitarian mapping, and helped catalyze the OSM community to produce over 5.5M edits, including over 4M buildings and 100,000 km of roads (Missing Maps leaderboard)  Since becoming a member in 2014, I have worked with several government and commercial organizations engaged in the HOT technology ecosystem and as part of the World Bank GFDRR Labs team that built the OpenDRI and Open Cities projects.  This experience has given me a broad perspective on the utility of OSM data within government and corporate enterprises, the tools needed to facilitate its adoption, and the policy adaptations needed to engage with a non-profit organization. With HOT’s evolution as an organization, particularly with the planned expansion associated with the Audacious Project, I believe the moment has arrived where my skills could serve HOT. Several of the issues HOT is facing: an expanding international footprint, increased governance and funding issues, and the pivot to a strategic board, are all areas where I can directly contribute.  For the last seven years I have been a member of the American Geographical Society (AGS) Council, acting as a fiduciary of the organization and part of an active, “working” board.  In that time, we have evolved the mission of the organization (which was originally founded in 1851), creating new forums, meetings, and digital properties, and had to face many governance, funding, and bylaw issues that I believe will help inform my actions as a HOT Board member.  The combination of this non-profit experience, my personal network that spans across a range of HOT partners in the commercial, government, international organization space, and a deep open source technology and geographic information science background, means I am well positioned to support HOT at this critical moment in growth.  I believe that a strong professional staff and executive leadership is key to non-profit success, and while the Board must provide rigorous oversight and governance of executive activities, it must also increase the capacity of the organization to take action and serve as advisory and outreach support to its professional leadership.
Nicolas Chavent	Amadou Ndong Leonard Doyle	France		My OpenStreetMap journey is two fold. First, I co-founded the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) concept in 2008, I co-founded of HOT US inc in 2010, I served the org as a Board member (2010-2014) and as its de facto Operations Manager for Haiti and Sub-Saharan Africa (2010-2013). Second, I co-founded the French associations Projet Espace OSM Francophone (ProjetEOF) and Les Libres Géographes (LLG) which supported technically and organizationally at grassroot level the growth of autonomous OSM collectives in Haiti and French-speaking Africa from 2014 to date. I developed a span of skills and experiences fit to serve at the HOT US Inc Board and help the organization in its willingness to reflect, change, localize, decentralize and implement its activities in a way more respectful of the OSM way and especially OSMF policies, jurisprudence and practices. Through the inner human, technical and organizational knowledge I had built over time in these Francophone countries, I think I can help the organization. My full candidate statement reads as a diary note.

Strikethrough indicates candidate has withdrawn

Member questions for board nominees

QUESTIONS ARE NOW CLOSED

Candidate responses to questions can be found here.

Member name	Question
Arnalie Vicario	What is/are the impact/s of the shift from global to regional structure of HOT on voting members? Conversely, how do you think the voting members should interact (e.g. what is their role) with the Regional Hubs?
Matt Gibb	How can we support HOT volunteers who may experience burnout as we work towards HOT's Audacious goals (including Voting Member and non-Voting Member volunteers), while the number of HOT paid staff grows?
Heather Leson	What are the most important things the HOT board should be doing for the 1. membership 2. board 3. staff 4. global OSM community?
Heather Leson	What are your views on an operational versus strategic board for HOT?
Jorieke Vyncke	HOT is traditionally not much focussed on the mapping of places where people are sufferring from violence and conflict, eg Yemen, Ethiopia, etc. Since many humanitarian organisations working in these places to serve the population could benefit a lot from better map data, should this become a bigger focus of HOT?
Mikel Maron	The basics of HOT’s governance model were set 10 years ago in very different circumstances (nominated membership, board members selected from and voted by membership). What are the strengths and weaknesses of HOT’s governance model in 2021, and what would you advocate changing?
Mikel Maron	As HOT’s budget and staffing increases rapidly, what are the most important roles for the Board to take?
Mikel Maron	What is working well in HOT? What is not working well in HOT?
Election Committee	How have you contributed to HOT's efforts over the past year?
Election Committee	What are your thoughts on building a welcoming space for communications around humanitarian mapping and OSM as a whole? As such, how would you address conflicts arising between HOT affiliated people/organizations and members of the broader OSM community (eg OSMF members, Local Chapters, individual mappers in an area)?
Election Committee	With Audacious now in its second year, what do you think of HOT's current goals? What do you believe could be improved/what is missing from HOT's priorities?
Election Committee	Do you see any potential conflicts of interest with you being elected to the Board/Chair position?
Election Committee	How will you ensure that Audacious continues to be implemented with community as its focus?
Election Committee	What do you see as the greatest challenge the organization is facing strategically, and as a board member, how do you plan on approaching these challenges?

Chair Election Results

Candidate	Votes
Chad Blevins	102
Abstain	18

Chad Blevins is elected as Voting Membership Chairperson.

Previous Chairperson for the Voting Members

The current Chairperson is Matthew Gibb. Membership Meeting Minutes can be reviewed Humanitarian_OSM_Team/Meetings#Meetings_of_the_Voting_Membership

Nominations for Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team Chair

NOMINATIONS ARE NOW CLOSED We elect one person for the Chair for the Voting Members. The nomination and the election of the Chair will follow the schedule of the Board as detailed above.

Candidate Name	Nominator / Supporter(s)	Candidate Nationality/Residence	Why are they an excellent choice?	Link to blog or OSM diary with candidate statement
Chad Blevins	Matt Gibb / Courtney Clark	USA/USA	Chad has been an extremely active voting member, most recently as a member of the Data Quality and Assurance working group. Having played a large role in the founding of YouthMappers, he has helped foster relationships with many current Voting Members. I believe he would bring the necessary skills to support the Voting Membership as Chairperson.	Over the years I have seen HOT grow from a small team of passionate mappers into a unique and impactful humanitarian organization. Mapping efforts organized by many of the HOT founders following the 2010 Haiti earthquake made me realize different ways to harness the power of people in a digital environment. At the time I was a volunteer for my local fire department and the concept of working with volunteers around the world was a new and one that I really took a liking with. As a Geographer who dealt with the Y2K scare during college it was almost unfathomable to believe how much more accessible and connected the world is through OSM. I’ve been a supporter of HOT since the very beginning and worked closely with staff during my tenure at USAID (2009-2019). I was involved with several early initiatives and projects having spent time enhancing the Tasking Manager (V2-V3), designing field mapping projects, and integrating OSM into USAID programs and college curriculums. In 2013 I remember connecting with Kate Chapman in Jakarta when she was one of very few official HOT staff. Her role was Executive Director, but she also served as field mapper, coordinator, finance dept., and the many other positions that are now filled by full time staff. This is one example highlighting my experience witnessing the growth of HOT through the years. In 2015 I cofounded YouthMappers after piloting several mapping initiatives with university students focused on disaster preparedness, response, and recovery. I am always looking for ways to sustain, engage, and create new opportunities between HOT and YouthMappers. I have attended and spoken at every HOT Summit since the first event held in Washington D.C. After becoming a voting member, I have participated in every election and currently serve on the HOT Quality Control and Assurance Working Group with nonregular attendance to other WGs. I am excited to be nominated as the HOT Chair and feel my combined experience and knowledge make me an excellent candidate at a time when HOT is rapidly growing. As a potential Conflict of Interest, I will note my current position as Principal Consultant with Critigen, a small geospatial company. Critigen (under SpatialDev) has previously contracted with HOT and in the event new contracting opportunities arise I will abstain from participation on both sides.

Past Elections

See the main page of HOT Board Elections for information on past elections.